I’ve never actually had this dish before but I happened to have some extra tamarind and dried lemongrass on hand and realized I could make something with it and this was the recipe I ended up landing on. I suppose I should be less surprised that this was absolutely delicious. I ended up using much more mild chilies (kashmiri chilies to be precise) because that’s what I had on hand. I’m sure that the dish I made isn’t authentic in any sense but I loved playing with these flavors and it made me excited to try more dishes from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Continue readingCategory: meat and seafood
Recipe: Bacalhau à Brás
We had Bacalhau à Brás a few years ago when we were in Portugal and I was just kind of craving it lately (who doesn’t love a good salty fish and potato combination?). It uses salted cod which you can make yourself or you can usually find it in specialty stores since it stores very well. It’s a great treat for a weekend meal but it is important to plan ahead because the salted cod has to soak for a day to get some of that salt out before cooking but then it comes together pretty easily after that.
Continue readingRecipe: Fesenjān
This is a delicious Iranian stew with the flavors of pomegranates, walnuts, saffron, and other spices that takes about 3-4 hours to come together but it is well worth it thanks to the richness and depth of flavor that it produces. This is a show stopper for a dinner party or other get togethers and it’ll definitely be something that your friends and family talk about for years to come. This recipe has you make your own pomegranate molasses and walnut paste because they’re not available where I live but feel free to use commercially available shortcuts if you can!
Continue readingRecipe: Turkeyloaf
This recipe is fairly simple meatloaf made from ground turkey that comes together with only a few minutes of actual work but it tastes really great and also stays well in the fridge or freezer once cooked. This loaf is kept moist with lots of vegetables but it still holds together solidly enough that slices of it can to be used for sandwiches. You can play around with the flavorings, vegetables, and glaze to create your own personal masterpiece.
Continue readingRecipe: Chicken Adobo
A set it and forget recipe this takes time but practically no effort to produce delicious and flavorful chicken that is perfect with a nice pile of rice. I always store the leftover sauce and use it to make stir fry. I used only drumsticks the first time but I would actually recommend bone in thighs or a mixture of pieces in the future and to just adjust the cooking time slightly depending on the size of the pieces.
Continue readingRecipe: Makaronia Me Kima
This recipe is basically a Greek staple but I had never heard of it. Saltsa Kima is basically Greek style of Bolognese. It has cinnamon, cloves, and allspice making it sweet and spicy. It is also the basis for Cincinnati Chili which my husband particularly loves. It’s a pretty unique flavor and like Bolognese it’s extremely easy to make as it just takes time not work to come together, so it’s good for a weekend or a slow day.
Continue readingRecipe: Salmon in Tomato Coconut Cream Sauce
This is a really delicious and pretty simple dinner. It’s creamy and savory and it comes together in about 20 minutes (basically while your side dish cooks) making it good for week nights or last minute dinner rush since I almost always have the ingredients on hand. It also is one of those dishes that seems fancy but actually it’s not too pricey assuming you live in a place where you can get a decent price on salmon.
Continue readingRecipe: Tikka Masala Meatballs
Can you go too far with a mash up? Probably but this one I actually really liked. It’s basically the standard procedure for making meatballs with red sauce except you build the sauce and meatballs up with a different spice profile making them spicy with a sweet, spicy, and creamy sauce. I used coconut milk because its shelf stable and I always have some around but heavy cream in the sauce is probably the way to go. You can serve these with rice, in pitas, or go absolutely mash up wild and serve them on spaghetti or maybe on top of hummus the possibilities are endless.
Continue readingRecipe: Chicken Tinga
This is a fairly simple recipe which is basically just spicy chicken in a tomato and onion and chili sauce and there isn’t anything wrong with that. This can be made in a slow cooker really easily also and gets most of its spices and flavors from the can of chilies in adobo. This is great on rice or in a burrito and can be topped with fresh vegetable or served with a salad to round out the meal.
Continue readingRecipe: Shepherd’s Pie
If you time this right by putting your potatoes up to boil right away you can have this in the oven in 30 minutes or less and on a table in under an hour making it a pretty good weekend meal. There isn’t anything particularly difficult about this and it makes an extremely rustic food that is homey and comforting and can be tweaked to your tastes. You can use almost any vegetables on the inside (or go for just onions and meat if that’s your jam) but whatever you use make sure it is very finely diced which you can accomplish by grating them on the fine side of a box grater or pulsing the vegetables in a blender for a few seconds, you want everything but the peas to basically melt away while cooking down to give you a very uniform texture.
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